Free WiFi For All Deployed Troops?

File this one under War is Hell in the 21st Century: Troops deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere generally have free online access at Internet cafes, but not in their billeting facilities, where they must pay for it, a situation the Senate Appropriations Committee says it would like to change.

In its report on the 2012 Defense appropriations bill, the committee directed the Defense Department to examine the feasibility of providing free WiFi Internet service to all billeting facilities at all deployed locations and "wireless Internet at all remote combat locations [that accommodate] greater than 300 personnel."

This is one of those great ideas that may founder on real world problems. As I reported in our news columns today, Defense already spends $500 million a year on leased satellite communication service to support combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder if a cash-strapped military can afford the bandwidth bill to turn every combat outpost into a WiFi hotspot.